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Senchi deaths: FDA reveals ‘medication errors’ are not punishable

Senchi deaths: FDA reveals ‘medication errors’ are not punishable

Source: Ghana | George Nyavor | george.nyavor@myjoyonline.com

Date: 04-04-2018 Time: 05:04:27:am

A man who injected four patients with contaminated penicillin leading to their deaths at the New Senchi Health Centre may go unpunished if ongoing investigations reveal the injections were administered through an error.

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) explains that a system which aims at improving healthcare delivery and to prevent medication errors encourage health workers to report them when they occur and hence does not punish them for same.

George Sabblah, a Pharmacists at the Pharmocovigilance Department of the FDA explained Tuesday on PM Express, a current affairs programme on the Joy News channel (MultiTV) that if “investigations reveal that it is an error, we will look at what caused this error, then we try to prevent it from [recurring] in the future.”

He explains further: “Medication errors may be due to health care professional factor. Assuming a health care professional is supposed to give drug ‘A’ [but] ended up giving drug ‘B’, that is a medication error and this error may be due to the fact that the two drugs are looking very similar.”

Deaths

- Two of the victims of the fatal injections

The four victims had gone to the facility for skin infections but the retired disease control officer, James Yeboah, is said to have administered the contaminated injections.

Mr Yeboah is also alleged to be operating a private clinic at the facility.

Mr Yeboah’s work at the facility is concealed from the Asuogyaman District and the Eastern Regional Health authorities and is believed to have gotten the blessings of some persons at the Centre.

The FDA has dispatched its Pharmacovigilance team to the area to assist with investigations.

Police in the Eastern Region have also begun criminal investigations into deaths.

Watch the full programme below.

-The comments by the FDA official comes 23 minutes, 37 seconds into the video.